"Same-sex marriage in Iowa Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in the U.S state of Iowa since a decision of the Iowa Supreme Court on April 3, 2009. Marriage licenses became available to same-sex couples on April 27. In 2005, six same-sex couples who were denied marriage licenses in Iowa filed a lawsuit in Polk County. In 2007, the Polk County District Court ruled in favor of the couples in ""Varnum v. Brien"". On April 3, 2009, a unanimous Iowa Supreme Court upheld the lower court's ruling, making Iowa the third U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage, after Massachusetts and"
"Clela Rorex Clela Rorex issued the first same-sex marriage license in the United States. Serving as the Boulder County Clerk, Rorex issued a marriage license to a gay couple in 1975 after receiving approval from the District Attorney. Clela Rorex was born in 1943 and grew up in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Her father was the Routt county, Colorado clerk for 30 years. Rorex attended the University of Colorado on a Methodist scholarship. She then married a naval officer and spent 3 years with him while he was stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before returning to Boulder. After working a few"
"masters degrees. She worked as legal administrator for the Native American Rights Fund in Boulder for 18 years. After retiring around 2011, she spoke at public schools on panels composed of people of different gender identities. She considers herself an “ally for gay rights and marriage equality”. Clela Rorex Clela Rorex issued the first same-sex marriage license in the United States. Serving as the Boulder County Clerk, Rorex issued a marriage license to a gay couple in 1975 after receiving approval from the District Attorney. Clela Rorex was born in 1943 and grew up in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Her father"
"! style=""width:190px;""| Poll source ! style=""width:200px;""| Date(s)administered ! class=small | Samplesize ! error ! style=""width:100px;""| % support ! style=""width:100px;""| % opposition ! style=""width:40px;""| % no opinion Same-sex marriage in California Same-sex marriage is legal in the U.S. state of California, and first became so on June 16, 2008, when the state began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples as the result of the Supreme Court of California ruling in ""In re Marriage Cases"", which found that barring same-sex couples from marriage violated the state's Constitution. The issuance of those licenses was halted during the period of November 5, 2008 through"
"2004, same-sex marriage was legalized in the state of Massachusetts, and Marcia Hams and Sue Shepherd became the first same-sex couple to receive a marriage license in Massachusetts. Mary Bonauto, herself a lesbian, had argued and won the case that legalized same-sex marriage in the state of Massachusetts in 2003. In March 2004, same-sex marriage was legalized in part of Oregon, as after researching the issue and getting two legal opinions, the commissioners decided Oregon's Constitution would not allow them to discriminate against same-sex couples. The Chairwoman of the Board of Commissioners ordered the clerk to begin issuing marriage licenses."
"issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples for a day until the state attorney general issued an opinion that they were ""invalid under state law"". Similar actions occurred in New Paltz, New York (February 27); Multnomah County, Oregon (March 3); and Asbury Park, New Jersey (March 8). On November 2, 2004, voters in eleven states–Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Utah–approved state constitutional amendments defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Kansas did so on April 5, 2005, as did Texas voters on November 8 of that year. The adverse reactions"
"that all clerks in the state were required under the Constitution to issue marriage licenses to all same-sex couples. On January 5, 2015, same-sex marriage was legalized in Miami-Dade County when Judge Sarah Zabel lifted the legal stay on her July decision legalizing same-sex marriage in Florida, and Karla Arguello and Catherina Pareto became the first same-sex couple married in Florida. On January 6, 2015 same-sex marriage was legalized and began throughout Florida. Also in January 2015, same-sex marriage was legalized in South Dakota, but the ruling was stayed. Also that month, same-sex marriage was legalized in two separate rulings"
"Same-sex marriage in Vermont Same-sex marriage has been legal in the U.S. state of Vermont since September 1, 2009. Vermont was the first state to introduce civil unions in July 2000, and the first state to introduce same-sex marriage by enacting a statute without being required to do so by a court decision. Same-sex marriage became legal earlier as the result of ""court decisions"", not legislation, in four states: Massachusetts, California, Connecticut, and Iowa. Either by legislation or court decisions, Vermont was a leader among U.S. jurisdictions in protecting the rights of gays and lesbians in the 1990s. In 1990,"
"most popular. Same-sex marriage in Alabama Same-sex marriage has been legal in the U.S. state of Alabama since June 26, 2015, after the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in ""Obergefell v. Hodges"". However, as of December 2018, eight counties in Alabama do not issue marriage licenses to any couples in order to avoid issuing them to same-sex couples. Before the Supreme Court's decision in ""Obergefell v. Hodges"" on June 26, 2015 which held that the United States Constitution requires every state to recognize and license same-sex marriage, the legal status of same-sex marriage in Alabama had been the subject of a"
"Same-sex marriage in California Same-sex marriage is legal in the U.S. state of California, and first became so on June 16, 2008, when the state began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples as the result of the Supreme Court of California ruling in ""In re Marriage Cases"", which found that barring same-sex couples from marriage violated the state's Constitution. The issuance of those licenses was halted during the period of November 5, 2008 through June 27, 2013 (though existing same-sex marriages continued to be valid) due to the passage of Proposition 8—a state constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriages. The granting"
"which bans same-sex marriage and any ""legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups"". Several same-sex couples have been issued licenses through the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, a sovereign nation within the borders of Oklahoma, since 2013. The Cherokee Nation and the Osage Nation also perform and recognize same-sex marriages. The latter approved the move after a 2017 referendum found majority support for same-sex marriage. On November 3, 2004, the day after Oklahoma voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, two lesbian couples, Mary Bishop and Sharon Baldwin, and Susan Barton and Gay Phillips, filed a"
"Senator Jim Dabakis and his partner of 27 years were among the first same-sex couples to marry in the state. Several hundred people, gay and straight, crowded outside Salt Lake City and County Building on the lawns of Washington Square on the night of December 23 to cheer and laugh and listen to band music and to speakers celebrating the state's first same-sex marriages. On December 24, the Governor ordered state agencies to comply with the ruling, and by December 26, all Utah counties were issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Within a week of the ruling, Utah had issued"
"same-sex couples. The Chairwoman of the Board of Commissioners ordered the clerk to begin issuing marriage licenses. However, later that year, Oregon voters passed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as involving one man and one woman. The same-sex marriages from 2004 were ruled void by the Oregon Supreme Court. Same-sex marriage was legalized in Connecticut in 2008. Same-sex marriage was legalized in Iowa in 2009, and was legalized in Vermont in 2009. In 2008 the Coquille Tribe legalized same-sex marriage, with the law going into effect in May 2009. In 2002, a lawsuit brought by Derek R. Henkle against the"
"Goodridge v. Department of Public Health Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health, 798 N.E.2d 941 (Mass. 2003), is a landmark Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court case in which the Court held that the Massachusetts Constitution requires the state to legally recognize same-sex marriage. The November 18, 2003, decision was the first by a U.S. state's highest court to find that same-sex couples had the right to marry. Despite numerous attempts to delay the ruling, and to reverse it, the first marriage licenses were issued to same-sex couples on May 17, 2004, and the ruling has been in full effect since that"
"the state of Washington, the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians (whose first same-sex marriage certificate went to a male couple), and the Santa Ysabel Tribe. Also in 2013, same-sex marriage was legalized in Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Utah, and same-sex couples who had a partner facing a terminal illness were allowed to get married in Illinois starting in 2013 rather than waiting until June 2014 implementation date. Jonipher Kwong and his partner Chris Nelson were the first same-sex couple to marry in Hawaii. However, several weeks after same-sex marriage was legalized in Utah a"
"U.S. district court, D. Bruce Hanes, the Montgomery County Register of Wills and Clerk of the Orphans' Court, announced he would issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. He interpreted his Orphan's Court position as a judicial one and found that denying same-sex couples marriage licenses as the statutes required would violate their rights under the State Constitution. Between July 24 and August 9, 2013, he issued marriage licenses to more than 100 same-sex couples. A week later the Pennsylvania Department of Health filed a lawsuit in Commonwealth Court to enjoin Hanes from issuing any more such licenses. The lead state"
"no marriage license at all pending a decision by the Multnomah County Court. With the consent of the state, three same-sex couples sued the state of Oregon in Multnomah County Court, including Mary Li and Rebecca Kennedy, the first same-sex couple to receive a marriage license from Multnomah County. At a hearing before Judge Frank Bearden on April 16, 2004, in ""Li and Kennedy v. State of Oregon"", the American Civil Liberties Union and Basic Rights Oregon represented the plaintiffs and the Oregon Department of Justice and the Defense of Marriage Coalition defended the state's position. On April 20, 2004,"
"Same-sex couples began marrying later that day. Before the passage of Proposition 8, California was only the second U.S. state (after Massachusetts) to allow same-sex marriage. Those marriages granted under the laws of other state governments, foreign and domestic, were legally recognized and retained state-level rights since 2008. From February 12 to March 11, 2004, under the direction of Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco, officials of the City and County of San Francisco issued marriage licenses to approximately 4,000 same-sex couples despite it being illegal to do so at both the state and federal level. During the month that"
"Same-sex marriage in Alabama Same-sex marriage has been legal in the U.S. state of Alabama since June 26, 2015, after the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in ""Obergefell v. Hodges"". However, as of December 2018, eight counties in Alabama do not issue marriage licenses to any couples in order to avoid issuing them to same-sex couples. Before the Supreme Court's decision in ""Obergefell v. Hodges"" on June 26, 2015 which held that the United States Constitution requires every state to recognize and license same-sex marriage, the legal status of same-sex marriage in Alabama had been the subject of a long legal"
"a woman but allow the states the option of creating other legal arrangements for same-sex couples. Same-sex marriage took on national importance as public officials in several jurisdictions allowed more than 7,000 same-sex couples to wed, including San Francisco (February 12-March 11); Sandoval County, New Mexico (February 20); New Paltz, New York (February 27); Multnomah County, Oregon (March 3); and Asbury Park, New Jersey (March 8). The legislature took no action either to implement ""Goodridge"" or block its implementation before the state began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on May 17, 2004. News coverage of that day's events in"
"the Washington County Clerk, inquired whether he was ordering her to issue more than the one marriage license specified in his preliminary injunction. Hinkle explained that his order applied only to the specific circumstances presented by the plaintiffs seeking relief, but that all Florida clerks should understand from his ruling that the U.S. Constitution required them to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. He warned that he was prepared to add additional plaintiffs and defendants to this lawsuit and that the costs would be borne by the defendants. The first same-sex couples began marrying in the state on January 5,"
"On 26 June 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, thereby making same-sex marriage legal throughout the United States. Prior to 26 June 2015, same-sex marriages were legal in the District of Columbia, Guam, and thirty-six states. In 2005, California became the first state to pass a bill authorizing same-sex marriages without a court order, but this bill was vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 2008, the Supreme Court of California overturned a 2000 law banning same-sex marriages. The legal effect of the court ruling was curtailed"
"basis of a court decision or their clerks' own volition, began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in August 2013. On December 19, 2013, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled unanimously that same-sex marriage would be permitted throughout the state, effective immediately. Several jurisdictions enacted same-sex marriage in 2013. Rhode Island enacted legislation on May 2, which took effect August 1; Delaware enacted legislation on May 7, which took effect July 1; and Minnesota enacted legislation on May 14, which took effect August 1. In October and November 2013, the Hawaii legislature enacted legislation legalizing same-sex marriage, which Governor Neil"
"sodomy laws in Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri and broader sodomy laws in nine other states unenforceable. On November 18, 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in ""Goodridge v. Department of Public Health"" that denying marriage rights to same-sex couples violated the Massachusetts Constitution. Massachusetts became the first United States jurisdiction to license and recognize same-sex marriages beginning May 17, 2004. In February and March 2004, city officials in San Francisco issued marriage licenses to about 4000 same-sex couples before being ordered to stop by the California Supreme Court. On February 20, 2004, the clerk in Sandoval County, New Mexico,"
"Same-sex marriage in Minnesota Same-sex marriage is fully legal and recognized in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Same-sex marriages have been recognized if performed in other jurisdictions since July 1, 2013, and the state began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on August 1, 2013. After 52.6% of state voters rejected a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in November 2012, the Minnesota Legislature passed a same-sex marriage bill in May 2013, which Governor Mark Dayton signed on May 14, 2013. Minnesota was the second state in the Midwest, after Iowa, to legalize marriage between same-sex couples and the first"
"a marriage license that they could not otherwise obtain in their home states."" Romney commented: ""This is an important victory for traditional marriage and for the right to each state to be sovereign as it defines marriage. It would have been wrong for this court to impose its same sex ruling on the other 49 states of America."" On September 29, 2006, Superior Court Justice Thomas E. Connolly determined that same-sex couples who reside in Rhode Island can marry in Massachusetts after finding ""that same-sex marriage is [...] not prohibited in Rhode Island"". In April 2004, as the dispute over"
"while 16% were opposed and 4% were unsure. Same-sex marriage in Vermont Same-sex marriage has been legal in the U.S. state of Vermont since September 1, 2009. Vermont was the first state to introduce civil unions in July 2000, and the first state to introduce same-sex marriage by enacting a statute without being required to do so by a court decision. Same-sex marriage became legal earlier as the result of ""court decisions"", not legislation, in four states: Massachusetts, California, Connecticut, and Iowa. Either by legislation or court decisions, Vermont was a leader among U.S. jurisdictions in protecting the rights of"
"LGBT rights in Massachusetts Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Massachusetts have the same rights and responsibilities as heterosexuals. The U.S. state of Massachusetts is one of the most LGBT-friendly states in the country. In 2004, it became the first U.S. state to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the decision in ""Goodridge v. Department of Public Health"", and the sixth jurisdiction worldwide, after the Netherlands, Belgium, Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec. Massachusetts is regarded as one of the most advanced U.S. states in regards to LGBT rights legislation. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal since 1974."
"appeals court based in Denver found that states cannot ban gay marriage, but that ruling was put on hold pending an appeal; however, clerk Boulder county clerk Hillary Hall (the first clerk to do so) and clerks in Denver and Pueblo counties issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Colorado in spite of the hold. Later that year, same-sex marriage was legalized in Colorado, but the ruling was stayed. Colorado's Supreme Court ordered the Denver county clerk to stop issuing marriage licenses to gay couples while the state's ban against the unions was in place. While that decision did not"
"Same-sex marriage law in the United States by state This article summarizes the same-sex marriage laws of states and similar jurisdictions in the United States. Via the case ""Obergefell v. Hodges"" on June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States legalized same-sex marriage in a decision that applies nationwide, with the possible exception of American Samoa and some tribal jurisdictions. Same-sex marriages are currently licensed and recognized in all U.S. states, District of Columbia, territories, excepting the aforementioned American Samoa and some Native American tribal jurisdictions. Texts:<br> ALABAMA CONSTITUTION - Amendment 774. Sanctity of Marriage Amendment (=Ref.1, cited"
"Denver found that states cannot ban gay marriage, but that ruling was put on hold pending an appeal; however, Boulder county clerk Hillary Hall (the first clerk to do so) and clerks in Denver and Pueblo counties issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Colorado in spite of the hold. Later that year, same-sex marriage was legalized in Colorado, but the ruling was stayed. Colorado's Supreme Court ordered the Denver county clerk to stop issuing marriage licenses to gay couples while the state's ban against the unions was in place. While that decision did not include Boulder and Pueblo, Pueblo"
"such laws, while 13% were opposed. 70% also expressed opposition to religious-based refusals to serve LGBT people. 23% expressed support. LGBT rights in Massachusetts Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Massachusetts have the same rights and responsibilities as heterosexuals. The U.S. state of Massachusetts is one of the most LGBT-friendly states in the country. In 2004, it became the first U.S. state to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the decision in ""Goodridge v. Department of Public Health"", and the sixth jurisdiction worldwide, after the Netherlands, Belgium, Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec. Massachusetts is regarded as one"
"Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco declared same-sex marriage legal in Idaho and Nevada, but Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy temporarily blocked that ruling for Idaho. Shortly later a private group that had led the legal fight to defend the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage withdrew its pending appeal for a stay with the Supreme Court, and thus same-sex marriage became legal in Nevada. Nevada state Sen. Kelvin Atkinson and Sherwood Howard were the first same-sex couple to marry in Nevada. Also in October 2014, a federal judge legalized same-sex marriage in North Carolina; although his federal judicial district"